[Qgis-developer] Re: New composer draw shapes

[John C. Tull]

Hi Marco,

On Nov 20, 2009, at 1:51 AM, Marco Hugentobler wrote:

> Hi John and list
> 
> Thanks for testing the new feature.
> 
>>> 2) The Background
>>> color options do not appear to do anything for me, so perhaps need to be
>>> removed from the ui, or made functional assuming there is an interest for
>>> a background fill behind an ellipse or triangle.
> 
> True, the non-functional background color and transparency is a bug. Should be 
> fixed in r12204

It is now working.

> For uniformity of item handling, I'd like to leave the background / frame 
> options for composer shapes. It could however be an option that they are 
> transparent white by default.

That makes sense. In that respect, you should change the legend item ui to say "General Options" instead of the current "Item Options for consistency.

> 
>>> 4) It would be ideal if the user could set opacity for the shape outline
>>> and/or fill.
> 
> Agreed. I'm going to add that soon. Also I'm planning to make an item for 
> arrows in composer soon.

That is a great idea as well. Might I suggest that it have the flexibility to create lines with arrow options for either end? Perhaps this was already your thinking. That way, the user can create arrows or generalize them to serve as simple lines to possibly highlight a separation or something else on the map without having an arrow on the end. Of course, the ability to create curved lines with a bezel tool would be nice, but perhaps too complex.

One other enhancement that would be nice would be the ability to set columns for legends. It is currently possibly to create multiple legends and use item subsets to create pseudo-columns, but doing it directly in a single legend item would be preferable.

As always, I am very impressed with the composer and your exceptional work and dedication. I don't want you to think that there is any lack of satisfaction on my part. I'm just trying to throw out ideas as they come to mind.

Cheers,
John